O’Reilly on Tarantino: Does media violence incite murder?

Referring to the violent movie Django Unchained on Tuesday, Bill O’Reilly questioned whether violent movies and other media incite people to commit murder or other violent acts. O’Reilly invited the movie’s star Jamie Foxx and director Quentin Tarantino to appear on the show, but both declined.

Tarantino has taken exception to linking his movies to real life violence. “I don’t think it has anything to do with that, but this has gone all the way back to Shakespeare’s days,” Tarantino said in another interview. “When there’s violence in the streets, the cry becomes blame the playmakers.”

Dr. Chuck Williams, Drexel University psychologist said that as an adult, he enjoys Tarantino’s movies, but that “everybody has to look at what part they play in creating this culture of violence.”

O’Reilly talks of how the level of what is acceptable in the way of violence has changed over the years, and how something that once was taboo is now mainstream.

Cheryl Carpenter Klimek has been a political consultant handling public affairs, political campaigns and PAC management for nearly 20 years.

Michael E. Douroux

Don't Censor Violent Media – TAX IT!

Balance | Consistency

It's time to take off the ideological handcuffs.

For those in Hollywood who are proponents of redistributed wealth for the betterment of society, how about a different type of VAT or Violence-Added Tax on both the purveyors and consumers of violent media to help fund the mental health care system?

We put heavy tax on tobacco to discourage use; we can do the same for gratuitous violence.

Just this past November in Cook County, Ill — the county that includes Chicago — the Board of Commissioners passed a "violence tax" on gun sales to defray uninsured hospital costs.

And let's cut through the stall tactic of pitting one scientific study against another with a simple question: Would advertisers pour billions into popular media if it had no impact on behavior?

The MPAA ratings system: Another false front. How many ushers are standing next to smart devices and in living rooms across America checking I.D.? On the downside of pervasive technological communication, it is glaringly obvious that parental control Is at a built-in disadvantage.

If the costs to society of obesity, diabetes, etc., is the premise of those who want to regulate thus control what is fed to bodies, then, for the exact same reason, what is fed to minds — particularly the young who are the most vulnerable — is on the table.

Hollywood's Unabated Golden Age of Gratuitous Violence

We get how in the name of "art" it is part of the free market of ideas to appeal to prurient interests as the path of least resistance to big box office.

However, as far as owning the personal responsibility that goes with it, it's interesting to watch how Hollywood's elite are now desperately trying to twist, turn and distract their way out of the hypocritical trap they have placed themselves in.

Any national debate over violence in America that does not join at the hip Hollywood's cash cow of glorified, romanticized human slaughter will be just another slick political exercise in hypocritical nothingness.

"Marketing Murder"

The weekend after the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn. — which left 26 people dead, including 20 children — Obama aide David Axelrod tweeted, "In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot 'em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?”

When it comes to selling murder as a game, human beings are fair game? Imagine, if the target of on-screen violence were animals, would it be tolerated?

Up to this point, all appeals for decency and self-restraint on the part of the violence peddlers have been gunned down by naked greed.

So, if greed is the clear driver of a problem that is poisoning our culture every second of every day, let's get real about a solution that deals directly with greed on its own terms.

If you want a real game-changer in favor of society, here it is: On a compounding basis at all levels, federal, state and local governments — Tax Violent Media!

Check out the Los Angeles Times article from 1999 entitled "Violence Tax Can Stem the Killing" by Peter Navarro.